I am thrilled to share that we will be hosting Sharel Cassity at Butler University on November 14th, 2024! Sharel will be working with the Butler bands, Noblesville High School, and Pike High School. The event will include a clinic at 6:00 PM, open to the public, followed by a concert at 7:30 PM. I hope you can join us!

About the Artist: Sharel Cassity

“Saxophonist, Flutist, and Educator Sharel Cassity is a prominent figure on the New York and Chicago jazz scenes. Voted the 2023 Rising Star Alto Saxophone and featured on the cover of Downbeat Magazine, Sharel has appeared on the Today Show, Good Morning America, and The Colbert Show. She is an inductee of the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame and a recipient of the ASCAP Young Jazz Composers Award.

Sharel has worked with multi-Grammy Award-winning artists such as Jennifer Hudson, Natalie Merchant, Aretha Franklin, Vanessa Williams, Trisha Yearwood, Ruben Blades, and DJ Logic, among others. As an avid jazz artist, Sharel has performed with NEA Jazz Masters like Herbie Hancock, Wynton Marsalis, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Jimmy Heath, and Gary Bartz. She has also been a featured soloist with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra.

As a bandleader, Sharel’s five albums have earned top-rated reviews in publications such as the Chicago Tribune, New York Times, JazzTimes, Jazziz, and American Indian News, as well as earning cover stories in Saxophone Journal and Downbeat Magazine. Her recent collaborations include co-leading releases by groups Altoizm, Precarious Towers, and her upcoming 2024 female collaboration, Alliance.

An advocate for jazz education, Sharel established the nonprofit program Jazz Up!, which brings jazz professionals to students in the suburbs who might not otherwise have access to live jazz or combo settings. She is also a jazz professor in the Chicago area at DePaul University and Elgin Community College.

A versatile sideman, Sharel is a current member of the Dizzy Gillespie Latin Experience and All-Star Big Band. She has frequently performed alongside renowned Grammy-winning artists like Wynton Marsalis, Roy Hargrove, Nicholas Payton, Lewis Nash, Joe Chambers, Michael Dease, and Darcy James Argue. Sharel has toured 24 countries and performed at major venues including the Newport Jazz Festival, Monterey Jazz Festival, Chicago Jazz Festival, and North Sea Jazz Festival. She also played lead alto in the Diva Jazz Orchestra from 2007–2014 and performed in Wynton Marsalis’ Broadway musical After Midnight.

Selected to attend The Juilliard School‘s Jazz program on a full scholarship, Sharel earned her Master’s in Music in 2007. She also holds a BFA from The New School for Jazz & Contemporary Music, earned in 2005. Sharel is featured in books such as I Walked with Giants by Jimmy Heath, Three Generations Under the Lens by Adrianna Mateo, and Freedom of Expression: Interviews with Women in Jazz by Chris Becker. She is an alumnus of prestigious student programs like IAJE Sisters in Jazz, Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead, and the Ravinia Summer Residency.

Steeped in classical tradition, Sharel placed third in the Disney International Piano Concerto Competition at just ten years old. She was offered a full scholarship to North Texas State University for classical saxophone at 18. After attending the University of Central Oklahoma in 1996, she moved to New York, where she transitioned fully to jazz.

Born into a musical family, Sharel’s father was a musician who played in New Orleans and was a professor and author in music therapy. Her aunt was a classical solo pianist with the Boston Pops and a Fulbright recipient.

Having moved frequently throughout her childhood, Sharel lived with her mother and graduated high school in Yukon, Oklahoma. In 2000, she moved to New York City, then relocated to Doha, Qatar in 2015, and settled in the Chicago area in 2017 with her husband and son. Sharel is a proud Yamaha and Vandoren Performing Artist, exclusively playing Yamaha instruments and Vandoren equipment.”

(Directly from https://www.sharelcassity.com/about).

Hope to see you all there!